"Okay!" Yunxi said. The suggestions and opinions given by Xu Huizu were not very complete, but after thinking about it, he thought that the general direction was correct, and he couldn't help but praise it.
"Your Majesty is so complimentary." Xu Huizu said immediately.
"Hey, your thinking is not bad, you don't need to be so modest." Yunxi said.
"But your third point comes from the four-class system when the Mongols ruled the Central Plains?" he asked again.
"I do think of it from the four classes of people when the Mongols ruled the Central Plains. Because the Mongols were few, the Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty used the Semu people to balance the Han people, and divided the Han people into two classes according to the north and the south, which was the idea of divide and rule. His Highness the King of Qin,
You can imitate it in the river." Xu Huizu explained.
Yunxi chatted with him for a few words, thought carefully for a long time, and said: "When you go back, you can think more about this plan, supplement it and improve it, and submit it to me in a few days. I will choose a day to call all the generals and the King of Qin and others.
Let’s discuss together.”
"This matter needs to be kept secret for now. Your most trusted staff can know about it, but it must not be spread to outsiders!" he ordered again.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Huizu bowed in agreement, and suddenly said as if he had made up his mind: "Your Majesty, most of the soldiers at this time do not know that Your Majesty was informed in advance by the Buddha and Taoist ancestors that Timur planned to conquer the Ming Dynasty. May I ask this?
Can all the soldiers be informed of the matter?"
Xu Huizu felt very strange when he just learned about the rumor that "Yunxi was informed by the Buddha and Taoist ancestors that Timur planned to invade the east". When he was just sent to the northwest by Yunxi, Yunxi told him that he was going to conquer the east.
Jiannie also made great preparations, so he didn't doubt it too much. But after hearing this rumor, he carefully thought about the preparations he had made in the past few years. Some of them did not look like preparations for an attack, but rather like preparations for an attack.
Defense preparations are made; and the scale of preparations is too large, so there is no need to use so much in the attack.
Therefore, even though Xu Huizu did not believe in gods and Buddhas, he was still half-convinced about this matter. However, he immediately ordered all Ming soldiers who knew about the matter not to tell anyone about it, and asked how to deal with it.
"Buddha's appearance to protect Master Fangzheng from lightning can be known to all soldiers. However, I was inspired by Buddha and Taoist ancestors to know in advance that Timur intends to invade the east. Don't let everyone know. You can tell the King of Qin, but instruct him to send troops to the west.
Don't tell others before sending troops, and we will talk about it after sending troops. I will tell the King of Qin personally about this last point." Yunxi thought carefully and made the following decision.
The Han people have always half-believed in gods and Buddhas, and most of the intellectuals among them do not. Exaggerating religion in the country is not good for maintaining national stability, so it is better to hide it.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Huizu bowed again and agreed, then withdrew.
After a few days, Xu Huizu drafted the entire plan he had perfected and showed it to Yunxi. After reading it, Yunxi said: "Not bad, not bad, it's very complete." He then raised his head and looked at the day, and then
Said: "It's better to catch the sun than to hit it. It just so happens that I have nothing to do today, so..."
He was just about to say, "Let's call all the generals to discuss with the King of Qin and others." Suddenly, a notification came from the door: "Your Majesty, a report from Urumqi."
"Quickly pass!" Yunxi said immediately.
A soldier with a lot of dust on his clothes walked in, knelt down and said, "I have seen your Majesty."
"Three days ago, on the tenth day of the eighth month, Lieutenant General Zhang led his soldiers to defeat the Western captives in Urumqi, annihilating more than 93,000 Western captives, and capturing more than 56,000 Western captives. The remaining Western captives fled in all directions."
"In accordance with His Majesty's decree, Vice General Zhang has executed all the captured Xilu, leaving only thirty-six of them to be used as prisoners after returning to Beijing."
"Vice-General Zhang is now leading the soldiers back and will be able to return here around August 20th."
"Good, good, good!" Yunxi praised repeatedly. After this battle, the 200,000 elite main force used by Timur for this eastern expedition was completely wiped out. It was easier to realize Xu Huizu's plan.
Moreover, the number of soldiers pursued by the Ming Dynasty was not much greater than that of the Xilu, and the Xilu were all cavalry. It was not easy to achieve such a complete victory.
He couldn't help but ask: "How did this battle go? What were the casualties of our army? Also, how many people did the left and right guards of the government lose?" When asked the last question, Yun Xi's voice trembled slightly.
"Your Majesty, this is how this battle happened." The auxiliary soldier began to introduce the battle.
…
…
"Commander Song, the city has been completely searched. All the Western captives have been killed or captured, and nothing has been missed." Liu Yi reported to Song Shenghui.
Song Xuan glanced around the whole city, seeing the dilapidated houses covered in smoke and fire, and the blood stains on the ground that had not yet dried up. Finally, he looked at the prisoners who were standing together and said, "
Is it possible that this city can be repaired?"
"Commander Song, the city was not completed in the first place. After it was captured by Timur, he did not do much repairs. The city wall facing the west is fine, but the wall facing the east is difficult to repair at all." Liu Yi
said.
At this time, Song Xuan was commanding the horse infantry of the left and right guards of the Fu army, and they were in the city of Urumqi, which had been captured by the Westerners.
After Yunxi defeated the Xilu and captured Timur on the afternoon of August 1, he began to consider annihilating the soldiers who fled from Samarkand. The total number of these soldiers was 150,000, and he did not want them to successfully escape back.
But according to normal methods, it is impossible to completely annihilate this cavalry. The cavalry's mobility is too strong, and the entire Yili area is mainly composed of plains. If they can't defeat them, why can't they run away?
Yunxi and other generals studied the map repeatedly, and finally Song Sheng said: "Your Majesty, if we want to completely annihilate these Western captives, we can only send an army that can ride horses at extremely fast speeds and is good at dismounting and fighting on foot to rush to the Western captives."
Previously, we took another route to enter the gorge, captured Urumqi, and used this place to block the Xilu's retreat."
"Your Majesty, please see that the city of Urumqi is located at the northern foot of the junction of the East and West Tianshan Mountains and at the southeastern edge of the Gurbantunggut Basin. There is Lingying Mountain to the west and Hongshan Mountain to the northwest. The two mountains are sandwiched between them.
The Baili Gorge Road leads directly to the northwest. It is the choke point for traffic between the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains."
"Controlling this place can not only block the Xilu's retreat route, but also because the gorge to the southeast of the city is hundreds of miles long, Vice General Zhang led his pursuers to pursue them, so that even if they wanted to turn around and look for another
There is no way to escape by road. Therefore, if we want to completely annihilate the Xilu troops, we can only send troops to occupy this place in advance."
"However," Song Sheng continued: "When the Western Captives found that their retreat was blocked and there were pursuers behind them, they would definitely attack the blocking soldiers with the most violent offensive. The blocking army would definitely suffer heavy losses. Even if they sent fewer people, they would be completely destroyed.
The army was destroyed, and I can't think of any guard station that can take on such an important task."
Everyone present thought for a while and spoke out to support Song Sheng's opinion. There are three difficulties in performing this task: first, you must be good at riding horses and be able to enter before the Xilu enter the gorge without being discovered by the Xilu; second,
They must also be good at infantry warfare and city defense warfare, and they must be able to defend the city without much defensive equipment; thirdly, they must be able to withstand extremely high casualties and be willing to perform this task.
The most difficult part is the third point. It is relatively easy to find troops that meet the first two points, but there are very few troops willing to carry out this task. It does not require any tactical literacy. An ordinary person who has never even been on the battlefield can see it at a glance.
It can be seen that this is a mission with a narrow escape from death. The soldiers are not NPCs. They will do whatever you ask them to do. If they are forced to carry out the mission, they may even mutiny.
There have been similar examples in history. After the Third Battle of Changsha, if Xue Yue could arrange for a division to penetrate behind the Japanese army in advance, it would be possible to completely annihilate the Eleventh Army commanded by Anan Weiji, but he could not find a single division.
The troops capable of carrying out this task could only watch the Eleventh Army withdraw.
Yunxi also stood at the table and did not answer for a long time. After a long time, he said: "The commander of the left guard of the government army, Cao Xing, and the commander of the government army's right guard, Song Xuan, are here."
"Your Majesty!" Yang Feng shouted immediately.
Yunxi glanced at him and said to the guards: "Go and tell them two to come."
The guard agreed, bowed and left.
After a while, Cao Xing and Song Xuan walked in and saluted Yunxi and the generals: "Your Majesty, Cao Xing/Song Xuan has met, and my subordinates have met General Xu, General Lan, General Song, General Geng, and General Wu.
…”
"What's the current situation of the left and right guards of the government army?" Yunxi asked.
Although Cao Xing was a little puzzled by the sudden call of the two of them, he didn't think much about it. Hearing this, he said: "After a night of rest, the left and right guards of the government have now recovered and can go out at any time."
"Okay." Yunxi lowered his head and thought for a long time, then raised his head and said to Cao Xing: "I have an extremely important task to hand over to the left and right guards of the government army."